The Other Side of the Story - A Bit Of Corn

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The Other Side of the Story - Giving People the Benefit of the Doubt

Judging favorably is a mitzvah. To do so, however, sometime it takes...

A Bit Of Corn

We live in Israel. This past week I sent our son to the corner store to buy canned corn. Before he left, I wrote a note for him to give to the store owner specifying how many cans, and underlining three times "No sugar!" When he returned ten minutes later, he proudly pulled out the corn, and ran for the can opener in the kitchen. I, however, inwardly groaned. One glance at the label and I knew it was the wrong stuff. Yup. Right there on the list of ingredients: Corn, Water, Sugar! Yick. Why would he send the kind I specifically wrote not to? Well, think quick and judge favorably, I chastised myself. "Did you pick out these cans yourself?" I asked our son. "No." "Hmmm. Did you give the store man the note?" He nodded yes. Suddenly, I remembered! It wasn't anyone's fault but my own! On the note, I had by mistake written the Hebrew words "bli melach!" (no salt), underlined three times, instead of "bli sukar!" (no sugar). I pointed out to our kids what had happened, and how quickly I had judged unfavorably our innocent store owner!

(Submitted by Chava Dumas)


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Based on "The Other Side of the Story" by Mrs. Yehudis Samet, ArtScroll Series

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